December 20, 2009

Ray Stevens: The Complete Singles Discography

Is everyone ready? I've come across some sites on-line that have listed the singles that Ray Stevens has released through the years. While they're few and far between over the course of 4 or 5 years I always seem to come across discographies that just don't look too professionally put together. It's as if it was a rush job of some kind, on the part of the web master. While it's not a walk in the park putting one of them together, some sense of professionalism should still be in order. I'll get this out of the way first and foremost...I won't be supplying catalog numbers. I'll list the singles and provide label information. The quantity of singles began to dry up by the late 1980's as consumers were buying full length albums instead of the "hit" recording. I'll add any information about the singles such as gold or platinum certification and whether or not a single reached the Hot 100 pop chart or the country charts. So, it'll be a dizzying list of songs because as most people know, pop and country artists at one time released more singles than albums. Another warning...the list is as complete as I know...I'm sure there are obscure releases that even nut-cases like myself aren't aware of. If a single reached the Top-40 I'll make a note of it. If a single charted below the Top-40 I'll simply refer to it as a Hot 100 entry, or a "chart hit" when we reach the country music era. As we get into the late 1980's and early 1990's the 45 RPM single had become less and less a feature in Ray's career. After 1990 his main focus shifted to music video's and his theater in Branson, Missouri {1991-1993}. Ray would continue to sing and promote songs from the albums he would release throughout the 1990's but they were never released commercially as 45 RPM's. After the demise of the 45 RPM as a commercially popular item, radio stations began to play songs from albums/CD's based upon what the record label promoted as a "single" even though there wasn't an actual commercial single in stores for consumers to purchase. This era began at some point in the early 1990's, perhaps 1992-1993. By the end of the decade a "45" in the mind's of most radio listeners meant a handgun instead of an item containing music. After 1989 I start to list songs that Ray promoted from his albums as "singles"...

1. Silver Bracelet / Rang Tang Ding Dong; 1957 Prep Records

2. Five More Steps / Tingle; 1957 Prep Records

3. Chickie Chickie Wah Wah / Crying Goodbye; 1958 Capitol Records

4. Cat Pants / Love Goes On Forever; 1958 Capitol Records

5. The School / The Clown; 1958 Capitol Records

6. High School Yearbook / Truly True; 1959 NRC Records

7. What Would I Do Without You / My Heart Cries For You; 1959 NRC Records

85. Help Me Make It Through The Night / Help Me Make It Through The Night; 1991 Curb Records

Note:At this time Ray Stevens opens up his theater in Branson, Missouri. Ray would perform at his theater during the 1991, 1992, and 1993 seasons. He would do 2 shows a day, 6 days a week.

86. Workin' For The Japanese; 1991 Curb Records Country chart hit

87. You Gotta Have a Hat; 1991 Curb Records

88. Power Tools; 1992 Curb Records Country chart hit

Note:It was around this point in time that Ray Stevens released Comedy Video Classics and sold it through television commercials and print advertisements. The home video would eventually sell more than 2,000,000 copies throughout 1992 and into 1993. Once it was released to retail stores in 1993 it sold more than half a million copies. The success led Ray into becoming a home video megastar throughout the 1990's as Comedy Video Classics and it's two follow-up releases, Ray Stevens Live! and Get Serious!, each had lengthy lifespans on the weekly home video sales chart. In fact, Get Serious! was on the weekly sales chart from January to July 1997 reaching a peak inside the Top-5.

104. If Ten Percent Is Good Enough For Jesus; 2009 Clyde Records MP3 single

105. We The People; 2009 Clyde Records

Whew! As I mentioned at the top of this blog entry...it's a dizzying list of singles! I probably missed some obscure singles that I'm not aware of but for the most part the above singles list is about as thorough as it can be. Do not let the lapses in single releases fool you, though, during the decade of the '90s. Throughout the 1990's and this decade Ray has focused a lot of his energy into music video's and DVD's as well as occasional tour dates. His latest, "We The People", is an on-line hit. To date it's received over 20,000 plays on You Tube. It is his biggest hit since "Osama Yo' Mama" in 2002.

4 comments:

I'm glad you liked the list of 45 RPM's! Hopefully people who stumble upon this particular blog entry will finally realize that Ray isn't some singer that comes and goes every few years but instead is an artist that's always been there and typically putting out new material.

The way some people on-line are reacting to Ray's latest song, "We The People", it's like they wondered where he'd been hiding for so long when in fact he'd been busy and active that whole time and it wasn't until this single that caused people outside of his fan-base to realize he's still around. That part of it I'll never understand but it's fun to see him get a lot of attention, though.

Ray Stevens made SO MANY great records in the 60s-80s but sadly in recent years all this political crap that he's been coerced into is pathetic. I dig the classic Ray Stevens that the world knows and loves. joshthekook at gmail dot com

About Me

I'm a big fan of what's called classic country music. I love the HEE-HAW television program and I like watching vintage cartoons. I have four blogs...the main one is devoted to Ray Stevens. My Ray Stevens blog is written from a fan's perspective. The opinions and expressions discussed in this blog are of my own creation and should not be taken as representation of Ray Stevens and his office staff. I'm simply a dedicated, though opinionated, fan of Ray's who likes discussing his music and career. This fan-created blog page is something that I started when I got fed up with the lack of accurate information about Ray Stevens that was circulating on the internet.

2012

The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music became available on February 28th; It's an impressive set featuring 9-CD's and a booklet; There are 108 recordings altogether and the booklet gives in-depth detail about each of the songs and their impact on society; Ray covers practically all the major comedy/novelty songs that have been recorded over the last 60 plus years; It's a marvelous collection!!

2014

Ray's memoir, Nashville, is a great book! If you don't have a copy I suggest you purchase one...any fan of Ray Stevens should get this book.

2016

Ray's recording, "Dear America", demonstrates that America is still the greatest country on Earth regardless of internal conflicts and imperfections; A loving tribute to the country and a defiant plea that the country's values and traditions should still continue to be championed and fought for; Excellent recording!

2017

Season One DVD of Ray's television series; It contains the first 13 episodes broadcast on local PBS stations from earlier this year; These episodes originally aired on RFD-TV but they were repeated on PBS stations starting this past January; Some local PBS stations aired all 26 episodes from the RFD run while other local PBS stations aired the first 13 episodes and then began airing the PBS exclusives which became available over the summer months; Future DVD releases are expected.

2017

Season Two of the Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville series; This volume consists of episodes guest starring the likes of Bill Anderson, Con Hunley, Williams and Ree, Leroy Van Dyke, and many more!! A perfect companion to Season One; Each season contains 13 half hour episodes.

2018

The Ray Stevens CabaRay Showroom officially opened to the public on January 18, 2018; This date is signifcant in the career of Ray Stevens in that it's the date he arrived in Nashville in 1962; The facility houses an entire array of entertainment from the main showroom to a piano bar, a gift shop, and it also houses his recording studios for audio and video productions; The upcoming Sixth Season of his PBS television series, CabaRay Nashville, is being taped at the showroom; These episodes represent the first to be taped at the venue.